Il Palazzo Vecchio

I had my first test in three years today, and thankfully it went a lot better than I thought it would, seeing that:
a) I didn't study
b) I hadn't opened my Italian grammar handbook to supplement my Italian courses (i.e. to catch up on the basics)
c) I had less than 5 hours of sleep

My saving grace was the review class we had before the test. It helped me jog my memory, revisit past errors, and remind me of rules and exceptions. I ended up having two errors--one was a stupid one I had done before in class (conjugating an -IRE verb in 3rd person singular with an -a instead of -e. Che risotto!), and another one was using the preposition "a" instead of "di" (which I had crossed out) for the verb decidere. Total Zeigarnik effect.

Il Salone dei Cinquecento 

After class, I joined a school-organized tour of the Palazzo Vecchio (the site of my adventures in Italian bureaucracy) with a couple of my roomies, whom I will from now on refer to as Rob and Posh (both females). We had a guided tour of the Medici family's old palace (the literal meaning of palazzo vecchio). The first room we entered was the Salone dei Cinquecento (salon of 500), named thus because of its total capacity. Its walls and ceilings are covered in frescoes; the former depicting Florence's victories over Pisa and Siena (on the west and east walls, respectively, and corresponding to their actual geographic direction); the latter representing the life of Cosimo I de Medici in a godlike manner. [Pictured above right: Michelangelo's statue of Florence defeating Pisa]

I didn't really understand or hear everything the guide said, but some of the highlights of the tour were the name of the Stanza del Guardaroba (= "room of looking at stuff"), where there were Renaissance maps (unfortunately Canada wasn't represented), and the secret passage leading us from this room to the room of  Francesco I de Medici's second wife Bianca. How I love secret passages. Then we got to look through a viewing window in Bianca's room into the Salone dei Cinquecento. Why she had one I don't know.

 Gold-leaf ceiling of the Sala dell'Udienza. I included this picture even though I can't remember what this room was used for.

I also liked Cosimo I's motto "Festina lente", which means "Make haste slowly". It is represented throughout the palace by a turtle and sail (pictured right). Festina lente, ragazzi!

After the tour, the three of us went to Vivoli for gelato (I had riso and croccantino al rum--both delicious and not my usual chocolate frappé order), quickly passed Santa Croce, and walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, one of my favourite spots in Florence. I gave the girls a guided tour of San Miniato al Monte (I tried my best to remember the interesting facts from my first visit).

View of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo 

We walked to the Ponte Vecchio (pictured below) after sunset and then had aperitivi at Chiaroscuro. A pretty sweet Friday evening if I do say so myself--except with the amount of alcohol Italians put in their cocktails (!), I guess I should technically say "bittersweet".

Today's word of the day is gita. It means "trip" or "outing" and is pronounced JEE-ta.